Top 3 Reasons Father's Day Doesn't Exist Publicly

3. Our ward didn't have a Father's Day talk (Which is, in fact, preferable to the usual topic assigned to situations such as this, namely, "The Father's Day Lecture").

2. There were no little gifts at church for the Dads. I once went to a ward in Monterey that has a tradition every Mother's Day to set up brunch in the gym served by all males young men age or older in the ward. Ward Father's Day tradition: none.

1. Wal-mart didn't have a Father's Day display anywhere, and if Wal-mart doesn't recognize it, does it really exist? I happen to know that every single other holiday is represented at Wal-mart, since I am always there, with huge displays, including non-holidays such as St. Patrick's Day. The obvious conclusion is that Father's Day is an underground movement and not a publicly recognized day.

I'm sure there are more reasons, but I think I've made my argument pretty well. The question I am now asking is this:

Is it really that hard for us to show appreciation for our hard working Dad's once a year? Maybe we should make the holiday a tri-anual event so we don't over-tax ourselves. I mean this constant ordeal of wrapping a box and signing a card... Are we expected to do this yearly? Apparantly not, since the holiday isn't real anyway.

Wonder Child

Well, Alli has graduated from Pre-school. She loved every minute of it, even though she already knew how to read two years ago when she started. That's one of the things I love so much about her. She is insanely smart and yet has no qualms about learning letters with the rest of the kids. I don't think she really understands how amazing she is, and, frankly, I'd like to keep it that way.

The other day I walked into her bedroom to find her finishing up the last page of a Nancy Drew book my Mom bought her. I told her Alli liked the elementary school version called ''The Clue Crew" but apparantly she didn't know what I meant and bought the "Mystery in the Old Clock Tower" instead. It was 135 pages of old english. Well, not like Chaucer old, but you know what I mean. Being of a skeptical nature, I sat down and quizzed her. She told me all about the secret passage way and the ghost that wasn't really a ghost. Where did this kid come from? She is five right? I didn't mistake her birthday? Or maybe she is related to Benjamin Button.

Anyway, she astounds me. I don't know what to do with her, but I love her to bits.

Mendel visits my Garden

Purple Pea flowers? Every other pea plant I have ever seen has white flowers. What the heck? My snap peas have white flowers and pea pods everywhere, but there are only two tiny pods on this entire purple plant. So the question I am asking is, what am I growing? I guess all Mendel can really tell me is that the hybrid of my two plants cannot have pink flowers next year. Great news. I was so worried.

At least my strawberries are producing this year after a pesticide mishap last year that nearly killed them off. I don't want to name names, but... Okay, it was me. I did it. This year they are healthy, although I'm not exactly getting buckets of berries. Next year will be awesome...

I'm tyring some new things this year as well, like corn and pumpkin. The weather has been so rainy, so I hope they do okay. Almost everything I planted loves heat. Still waiting for the heat-75% above average rainfall is not my idea of an ideal summer either. Here is Maddie helping plant the garden earlier this year:
And here is the carrot, broccoli, and onion box a few months later: Gardening is so fun, but it really tries my patience. I can't believe it takes so long! I think it's the anticipation that makes the vegetables taste better when you finally eat them.